Yarn windup means



July 14, 1970 I. H. SWALLOW YARN WINDUP MEANS Filed Nov. 20. 1967Inventor JXQ/V f-wey imz z a 14/ M an 4% Atlorne y S United StatesPatent ()fice 3,520,483 YARN WIN DUP MEANS Ian Henry Swallow, Goytre,England, assignor to Imperial Chemical Industries Limited, London,England, a corporation of Great Britain Filed Nov. 20, 1967, Ser. No.684,224 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Dec. 8, 1966,55,061/ 66 Int. Cl. B65h 54/02, 54/42 US. Cl. 242--18 2 Claims ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE In print-roll winding, the package drive roll (printroll) is stepped and winding is initiated from the portion of reduceddiameter, the transfer tail being wound whilst the thread-line isdirected along a screw-thread cut in an inclined portion to the portionof full diameter.

The invention concerns improvements in or relating to yarn windup meansand is particularly concerned with means for initiating winding onsurface-driven yarn holders.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is a common practice in the syntheticfibre-producing art to windup yarn on tubular yarn holders which aremounted on chucks and rotatably driven by a drive roll.

Difiiculty is sometimes experienced in initiating winding on the yarnholder owing to the predilection of the yarn for adhering to thehigh-friction, e.g. glossy, surface of the drive roll rather than to thesurface of the yarn holder which may be, for instance, of a treatedcardboard nature.

This is particularly the case when winding is arranged to take place bytraversing the yarn, by a reciprocating traverse guide, firstly on to anaxial length of the drive roll surface, from which it is then printed onto the yarn holder. Such print roll technique of winding has advantagesover winding directly on to the yarn holder (and package thereon) fromthe traverse guide, especially in regard to the formation of regular andstable yarn packages at high winding and traverse speeds.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The object of the invention is, therefore, toprovide apparatus for the positive initiation of winding on a yarnholder driven by surface contact with a drive roll; and, subsidiarily,to provide a means for winding a transfer tail at one end of the yarnholder clear of the yarn package thereon.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTPreferably, the intermediate frusto-conical portion is provided in itssurface with a helical yarn-guiding groove, e.g. a screw-thread,extending from the end-portion of reduced diameter to the main portionof full diameter. Preferably, also, the surface of the end-portion, atleast,

3,520,483 Patented July 14, 1970 of the drive roll is a low friction,e.g. matt-chromed, surface.

The above-defined yarn windup means is adapted to initiate winding ofyarn on the yarn holder by the use of the reduced diameter end-portionof the drive roll during the stringing-up operation, whereby, owing tothe low friction of the surface of the end-portion and owing to itslower surface speed compared with that of the yarn holder (which isbeing driven peripherally at or close to the surface speed of the fulldiameter portion of the drive roll), the yarn is predisposed to windaround the yarn holder, rather than to lick around the drive roll.

Movable yarn guide means, such as a swivellable pin, may be positionedadjacent the end-portion of reduced diameter and between it and thefield of traverse of the reciprocable traverse guide, in order thatduring stringingup the yarn may be guided outside the normal field oftraverse on to the end-portion of reduced diameter. From there, the yarnis directed on to the corresponding endportion of the yarn holder inwhich, conveniently, a notch is provided by which the yarn may beengaged; and the end of yarn is then cut off and a bunch of coils wound.

Such a pin may then be swivelled, either manually or automatically, asby the action of a spring after release of the pin by latching means, totake up a position guiding the yarn axially from the end-portion intothe helical groove of the intermediate portion, the yarn path tending tobe moved in that axial direction so as to take up the midposition of thetraverse stroke to which it will be constrained. Such axial movement ofthe yarn path provides for the winding of a transfer tail of spacedcoils.

When the yarn has been discharged from the helical groove on to theportion of the drive roll of full diameter, the yarn path will beintercepted by the reciprocating traverse guide and the yarn then takenup automatically thereby for traversing across the main portion of thedrive roll, whence it is printed on to the yarn holder to start theformation of the yarn package.

If it is not desired to cut a notch in the yarn holder itself, whichyarn holder may be a standard type cardboard container for a cheese typepackage, it may be preferred to secure a waste sleeve over the end ofthe holder, said sleeve containing a yarn-engaging slot and serving tocarry the first-wound bunch of coils. The waste sleeve may be removedfrom the yarn holder at the completion of winding.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will now be describedwith reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of yarn windup means according to theinvention,

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the windup means of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a plan view indicating the normal traverse and the means forinitiating winding, in relation to the drive roll of said windup means,and

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a wound yarn package according to the invention.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show diagrammatically a typical windup arrangement for,e.g., synthetic continuous filament yarns after drawing, modifiedaccording to the invention.

Yarn Y is wound on tubular yarn holder 1 which is mounted for rotationon freely-rotatable arbor 3 on the end of swing-arm 5; and yarn holder 1is urged into driving contact with positively-rotated drive roll 7 bymeans of spring 9. A notch 10 is cut in one end of yarn holder 1 forcatching the yarn initially.

Drive roll 7 has one end-portion 11 of reduced diameter and of amatt-chromed surface. The full diameter portion 13 of the drive roll isof bright chromed surface. Between the two portions, there is afrusto-conical intermediate portion 15, in the surface of which ascrewthread 17 is cut for guiding the yard whilst a transfer tail ofspaced helical turns is wound on the container 1 (see FIG. 4).

The yarn Y is delivered by means (not shown) to a pretraverse fixedguide 19; and, when winding has been initiated, the yarn is traversedaxially of the yarn holder to form a yarn package thereon by means oftraverse guide 21 reciprocated by traverse box 23 (FIG. 2-).

In FIG. 2, Y is used to indicate the yarn path during the initiation ofwinding, and Y to indicate the yarn path during normal (traversing)winding.

The plan view depicted in FIG. 3 indicates diagrammatically the normaltraverse stroke T, and also the two positions A and B of a swivellingpin 25 by which the yarn is directed to and from the end of yarn holder1 during the initiation of winding.

In FIG. 4, a cheese-type yarn package 27 is shown wound on yarnholder 1. Also shown is a bunch 29 wound whilst the yarn is beingdirected to wind on the end of the yarn holder by swivelling pin 25 inposition A; and a transfer tail 31 of spaced helical turns wound whilstthe yarn path progresses along the screwthread 17.

The apparatus of the invention is particularly suitable for use on ahigh-speed draw-winding machine for synthetic yarns of (e.g., polyamideand polyester fibres).

I claim:

1. In yarn windup means including a reciprocable traverse guide adaptedto reciprocate across a field of traverse, a drive roll having acylindrical main portion and a cylindrical end portion, and an arbor forbearing a tubular yarn holder adapted to be rotatably driven byperipheral contact between said drive roll and said yarn holder or yarnwound thereon, the improvement comprising said end-portion of said driveroll being of reduced diameter compared with the main portion of theroll, said end-portion being connected to said main portion by anintermediate frusto-conical portion and said field of traverse notextending beyond the ends of said main portion of the roll; and amovable yarn guide means positioned adjacent said end-portion of reduceddiameter and between it and said field of traverse for engaging the yarnand guiding the same to a position to be wound on to said end-portion ofreduced diameter, said yarn guide means being movable so as to disengagethe yarn and permit the same to move to a position to be engaged by saidtraverse guide.

2. Yarn windup means according to claim 1 wherein said intermediatefrusto-conical portion is provided with a helical yarn guiding groove inits surface.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,004,153 6/1935 Brainard3,147,579 9/1964 Michalek 3,172,619 3/1965 Rosenkranz et a1. 3,237,8763/1966 Franzen 3,408,011 10/1968 Lenk et al.

FOREIGN PATENTS 843,898 4/1939 France.

920,055 3/1963 Great Britain. 978,187 12/1964 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES Bauch: German DAS No. 1,054,888 Pub. Apr. 9, 1959.

STANLEY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R.

